Tuesday, October 15, 2013

100 Games, 100 Players: Number 6

I have a new project for this Blackhawks season: 100 Games, 100 Players! What I will be doing is after each of the first 100 Blackhawks I will be sharing my top 100 Blackhawks players of all-time by jersey number.

Tonight the Blackhawks won their 2500th game as a franchise with a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Patrick Sharp, whose wife gave birth to their second daughter Sunday led the Hawks with 2 goals. Corey Crawford backstopped the Hawks with 32 saves and a shutout in the shootout.

Number 6: Bob Murray

Bob Murray played 15 seasons in the NHL, all with the Blackhawks. Murray was a stay-at-home defenseman known for shutting down opposing teams' top scorers. He accumulated 1008 games with the Hawks, and averaged over a point every-other-game, tallying 514 over his career. Murray was also named to two NHL All-Star Games, and is considered by many to be one of the greatest defenseman in team history.

Who Else?

Murray was a pretty easy pick, but there were also some other strong candidates to steal the #6 crown. Gary Suter is a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, and played great as a defenseman with the Hawks in some of his final years, but most of his accomplishments were achieved in Calgary. Enforcer Reggie Fleming contributed defensively and was a very versatile player for the 1961 Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks, but only spent four years with the team. Lou Angotti was also a good compimentary player, but did not contribute a lot for a long period of time with the team.

Do you agree with my choice? Is there another Blackhawks number 6 I should have mentioned? Let me know!